


-a whisper of a promise-

by whydidIwritethis



Category: IT (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe- Powers, Ben can read minds, Bill is one memey boi, Bill’s meme knowledge™️, Dreams and Nightmares, I promise, I’m sorry, M/M, Mike and Bev are in this for like two seconds, Pennywise’s plan is revealed, Richie was based off of Scarlet Witch, Stan and Richie fight, Stan doesn’t approve, This is probably bad, UPDATING TAGS AS I POST CHAPTERS, because I said so, but it’s for training, but they will return, fight me, i based Eddie off of Terra from Teen Titans, muahaha, the boys share backstories, vine references
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-07-06 13:37:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15887115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whydidIwritethis/pseuds/whydidIwritethis
Summary: Apparently, Richie is ‘dangerous’ and has to go with two complete strangers that have magical powers to a lab somewhere.Richie isn’t buying it.(a.k.a an AU that the author doesn’t regret making)





	1. Mornsnares

**Author's Note:**

> did i mention there’s monsters?

“You look just like Clark Kent!” Beverly said with fake enthusiasm at the counter of a local supermarket. Richie and Mike watched from afar holding their bags of future stolen goods.  
“Why thank you!” The man at he counter said.  
Beverly threw her hands in the air which was the signal to go. Richie and Mike snuck their way to the entrance and left without being noticed. They waited by the alleyway until Beverly turned the corner with a lit cigarette resting on her lips.  
“Took you long enough,” Richie scoffed, tossing Beverly’s stolen barbecue chips.  
“A lady takes her time,” Beverly said with a terrible British accent. Mike snorted.  
“You’re pretty much the opposite of a lady, Bev.” Mike said. Beverly rolled her eyes and blew out smoke while opening her bag of chips. Richie, Mike, and Beverly made their way towards their hideout while snacking on their choice of chips. Richie joked the whole way with Beverly choking on her chips and Mike softly smiling. It was a regular Tuesday night for the trio, and they were all smiles as they sat down to eat their real dinner: microwave spaghetti.  
“This is the real shit,” Richie said as he plunged his fork into the cold spaghetti. Mike chuckled.  
“You’ve never had a real meal then.” He said while looking down sadly. Mike had run away a few years ago because of the heavy bullying. He and Beverly had still had a little bit of childhood, even if it was rough. Richie had been on his own since he was six.  
“You are right Mikey Mike!” Richie exclaimed. Beverly shot a glance at him and Mike smiled sadly. Life as an orphan was tough, but life as a kid with parents you couldn’t return to was just a bit harder. At least, Richie wished he was like that. His mom died five minutes before he ran away. After finishing their unmicrowaved microwaved spaghetti, the trio settled down for the night and Beverly and Mike nodded off to sleep. Richie lay awake staring at the stars and thinking.  
Why did everything have to be so hard?  
(that’s life, sweetheart)  
Why did his mom have to die?  
(fuckin’ germs I guess)  
At least he had friends.  
(they’re just as lonely as I am)  
And as Richie went to sleep, he wished for his life to be better. Richie wished for change.

-  
The man turned to him with a sickening smile, his lips stretching almost to his earlobes. He wore glasses and had curly hair with brown eyes. He was terrifying.  
“I gotcha now, Richard!” The man let out a manic laugh, the insanity of the sound waves echoing through the black space. Richie hadn’t heard his full name in years.  
-

“Tozier.” A whisper said as Richie jerked awake. Mike and Beverly were still sleeping beside him. Richie looked around and saw nothing in he dark abyss of their little makeshift fort.  
“Tozier.” The whisper came again. Richie sat up and jerked Beverly and Mike awake. After grumbles of protests they sat up.  
“What?” Mike said groggily. Richie shushed them.  
“Tozier. Marsh. Hanlon.”  
“Did you hear that?” Richie asked. Beverly’s eyes widened and Mike furrowed his brow in confusion.  
“Tozier. Marsh. Hanlon.”  
The whisper was a little bit louder this time. The three stood up and backed up until their backs were on the wall.  
“Tozier. Marsh. Hanlon.”  
“Tozier. Marsh. Hanlon!”  
“Tozier! Marsh! Hanlon!”  
“TOZIERMARSHHANLON”  
Then, everything went quiet. Richie, Beverly, and Mike breathed a sigh of relief.

Then their fort exploded.  
Beverly screamed as six oversized centipedes stormed their space screeching their last names. They were five feet long and two tall with hundreds of legs piercing the ground. The monstrosities slithered their way towards the three while Mike stood paralyzed and Beverly clung to Richie’s arm. Richie closed his eyes and waited for the attack, but nothing happened. Everything went dead silent. Richie opened his eyes to see a chunk of rock floating in the air surrounded by a glow of yellow light.  
“The fuck?” Richie said. The creatures stared at the rock for a bit before shuddering.  
“Kaspbrak! Kaspbrak! KASPBRAK!” They began to wail. Mike, Beverly, and Richie all stared as the rock plunged into one of the centipedes and rolled towards the others, killing them like bowling pins, all while glowing that strange yellow glow. Then the rock stopped moving and stopped glowing. Beverly let out a breath of relief and Mike patted Richie on the shoulder. For a second, everything was ok.

Then a really cute boy turned the corner.  
“Damn right.” He said.

-

The boy made his way towards the trio. He had beautiful side swept curly brown hair with golden brown eyes. He was on the short side but made up for it by holding his head up high and his fiery attitude. Another boy turned the corner with a more anxious look to him. He had sandy blonde hair and was a little chubby. He hesitated for a second before catching up to the cute boy.  
“Which one of you is Richie Tozier?” The cute boy asked firmly. Richie, Mike, and Beverly glanced at each other in confusion before Richie stepped forward.  
“The one and only! And who do I have the pleasure of ruining their life today?” Richie said cheerfully, despite the fact that he was terrified. Beverly snorted. The cute boy raised his eyebrows.  
“I’m Eddie Kaspbrak, and this is Ben Hanscom.” Eddie said, gesturing to the chubby boy. “We’ve come to take you to the lab.”  
(what the fuck)  
“What the fuck?” Beverly said.  
“Yeah, who do you think you are? Richie is our friend and he’ll stay with us.” Mike said.  
“Richie here is very dangerous and he must be taken to our home base to learn how to channel his powers correctly.”  
Richie blinked.  
“Our?”  
“There’s four of us not including my father, Dr. K.” Eddie said.  
“I’m down if you guys are down,” Richie said, turning to his friends.  
“Are you fucking insane?” Beverly shrieked.  
“No way we’re going with them.” Mike said, his voice shaking dangerously.  
“We’re not going to hurt you I promise,” Ben said, finally deciding to speak. “We need Richie because if he’s left alone any longer he’s going to hurt someone.”  
“Excuse me?” Richie asked. Eddie sighed in exasperation.  
“Bottom line is: you have powers and they’re very dangerous and you need to come with us or you’ll end up killing someone.”  
“Nice joke Eds-“  
“Don’t call me that.”  
“-but I’m afraid the only dangerous power I have is attracting hot women like your mom.”  
Eddie slightly flinched and Ben widened his eyes.  
(fuck)  
“Either you’re coming with us or we’ll take you by force.” Eddie said, obviously at his wit’s end.  
“Only if Bev and Mike come with me.”  
“No.”  
“Pretty please?”  
“No.”  
“Pretty please with sugar on t-“  
“NO!” Eddie screamed, his eyes lighting up the same shade of yellow as the rock from earlier. Pebbles and rocks of all sizes shot up into the air. When Eddie’s eyes stopped glowing all the rocks fell back towards the Earth.  
“I’ll take that as a no. At least let me say goodbye to them?” Richie asked. Eddie nodded and tried to slow his breathing. Richie turned to face Beverly and Mike. Mike looked extremely confused  
(as he should be)  
and Beverly looked close to tears.  
“I’ll come back for you guys. I swear on my mom.” Richie swore. Mike sucked in a breath.  
“I love you guys.”  
“I love you too, Rich,” Mike and Beverly said. Richie turned back to Eddie.

“I’m ready, Eddie Spaghetti!”  
“Don’t call me that, either.”

-

Richie followed Eddie and Ben to wherever the hell they were going in silence for as long as Richie could stand it.  
“So you guys said I had dangerous powers or some shit?” He said, not being able to take the silence any longer.  
“Yes, we just don’t know what kind yet.” Ben answered.  
“So Eds over here-“  
“For the last fucking time don’t call me that.”  
“-has super cool rock powers and you have..?”  
“I can read minds,” Ben said with a smile.  
(what am I saying right now?)  
“‘What am I saying right now?’” Ben answered.  
(that’s fucking cool!)  
“It’s a blessing and a curse,” Ben said simply.

“What were those centipedes back there?” Richie asked a little while later. They were still walking through downtown Derry, Maine.  
“They’re called Mornsnares. Pennywise sends them to attack us from time to time,” Ben answered.  
“I gotcha now Richie!”

-  
Suddenly, Richie wasn’t in downtown Derry. He was standing in a huge rocky cave with many stalactites reaching towards the ground. There was a huge obsidian throne in the middle which the man from his dream was sitting, stroking a Mornsnare.  
“Aren’t you supposed to be stroking a cat?” Richie asked. The man chuckled as he let the Mornsnare go and it scuttled past Richie.  
“Do you know who I am?” The man asked.  
“I know you’re a psycho who invaded my well deserved beauty rest,” Richie snapped, a hint of anger in his voice. The man’s eyes glinted with pride and malice.  
“You’re just like-“  
-

Richie woke out of the vision to Eddie slapping him across the face, his eyes glinting the slightest bit of concern. Ben looked like he was having a full blown panic attack.  
“What did you see?” Eddie asked immediately after he knew Richie was fully awake. Richie described the vision and Ben only got more scared.  
“It’s already starting. We need to get him to my dad as soon as possible.” Eddie said, nervousness at the edge of his tone. Ben nodded, and they took off speed walking leaving a very confused Richie to follow behind them.


	2. A Deep Blue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why does Dr. K remind me of Doofinshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb?

“What’s starting?” Richie said, but Eddie and Ben were speeding down the sidewalk out of earshot.  
“Hello!?” Richie yelled. Eddie turned around with an annoyed expression.  
“If your ass isn’t two feet away from us in ten seconds we are going to travel by rock!” Eddie shouted.  
“Are you threatening me Eds?” Richie said with mock hurt. Eddie rolled his eyes and his eyes started to glow. A ring of yellow encircled Richie on the sidewalk. The rock dislodged itself from the ground and Richie yelped as he fell on his ass. Ben chuckled as the ground did the same to him and Eddie. Then, they were speeding at even higher speeds down the road.  
-  
About ten minutes later, Eddie, Richie, and Ben were out of Derry. Long stretches of farm land laid out on either side of the road. Off in the distance was a huge white estate with marble arches and other accents.  
“Is that it?” Richie shouted over the wind pummeling his face. Eddie and Ben ignored him as they continued to charge towards the estate on their personal rocks. They began to get dangerously close.  
“Uh, maybe slow down a little?” Richie suggested. Instead of slowing down, they began to go faster.  
(i’m gonna fucking die and it’s all this cute ass boy’s fault)  
Richie prepared to slam into the mansion, but he found that they were phasing right through it.  
“Holy shit!” Richie exclaimed. Before them was a large grass field full of bright colored flowers and sneaky weeds. There was a large grey laboratory with many floors over to the right, and five medium sized stone cabins circling a slightly bigger brown house to the left. The house stood about five to ten feet higher than the cabins and has three two stories. The cabins were one floor and looked like a decent sized suburban house. The rocks the boys were standing on lowered to the ground before Eddie closed his fist and they crumbled to extremely tiny peddles.  
“Welcome to your new home!” Ben said with true enthusiasm.  
“We don’t have time for introductions. Richie needs to see my dad,” Eddie told Ben, turning to him and Richie before speeding off towards the lab.  
“I’m right here you know,” Richie called after him.  
“He’ll warm up to you,” Ben said with a wink.  
(i sure as hell hope so)  
Ben laughed and Richie followed him to the lab. Eddie was waiting for them at the end of a short hallway on the second floor. He opened the door and entered with Richie and Ben following behind. The room was an office space with a desk that had a computer on top. Many bookshelves lined the wall with towers of books. A man was sitting in a chair behind the desk. He looked strikingly like Eddie, if Eddie wore turtlenecks and lab coats.  
“Hey dad,” Eddie said, his back straightening slightly. Eddie’s dad beamed at his son with genuine happiness and Richie’s gut twisted.  
(lucky bitch)  
Eddie’s dad’s gaze shifted over to Richie.  
“Are you Richie Tozier?” He asked. Richie nodded.  
“I’m Dr. K, Eddie’s father.” Dr. K said.  
“I figured,” Richie mumbled and Dr. K chuckled.  
“I know this all sounds really strange, but it will all make sense soon. I am deeply sorry for taking you from your friends but if I didn’t they would be dead in a few months.”  
“Why?”  
“Please sit down, Richie and I’ll explain everything. Ben, thank you so much for helping to bring him here. Please go get Stan and Bill.”  
“Yes, Dr. K.” Ben scurried off to find whoever Stan and Bill were. Richie dragged a chair over from the corner of the office and sat in front of Dr. K while Eddie still stood off to the side, hands on his hips.  
“I’m sure Eddie has told you already, but you are very dangerous.”  
“I’m sorry but the only dangerous power I have is-“  
“Please shut up Richie,” Eddie interrupted with a sigh. Dr. K laughed.  
“As I was saying, you might not believe me but you have magic powers that are very much more powerful than all of us.” He said.  
“So I’ve been told,” Richie said.  
“He had a vision of...” Eddie’s voice tapered off as if he was talking about Lord Voldemort. Dr. K nodded and said he would handle that later. After a few moments of confusion from Eddie and Richie, Dr. K spoke up again.  
“We’ll test your powers in a bit, but first, any questions?”  
(yea: what the fuck?)  
“How am I so powerful?” Richie asked instead.  
“We don’t know.” Dr. K answered with a slight chuckle.  
“Do you have powers?” Richie asked.  
“No, but Eddie’s mother did.” Dr. K said, quieter than before. Richie glanced over at Eddie whose face had gone blank.  
“Any others?” Dr. K asked.  
(what happened to Eddie’s mom?)  
“No,” Richie said.  
“Good. Now let’s go find your powers, shall we?”  
-  
Richie walked with Eddie and Dr. K to a big room full of bottles and syringes. There was a glass pane on the wall looking out into a huge testing chamber with strange divots in the wall. Under the glass pane was a control panel.  
(what kind of “Bill Nye the Science Guy” episode is this?)  
Ben was standing in the middle with two other boys. One had curly hair spilling into his eyes and chocolate eyes, and the other had reddish-brown side-swept hair and ocean blue eyes.  
“Richie, meet Stan and Bill,” Ben said cheerfully.  
“Hi, I’m Stan,” said the curly haired boy.  
“And I’ll be your freestyle dance teacher,” Richie couldn’t help but say. The other boy, Bill, snorted while Stan quirked an eyebrow.  
“I’m Bill,” Bill said before doing a horrible imitation of the freestyle dance teacher Vine. Richie laughed and Ben smirked in Eddie’s direction, but Richie was laughing too hard to notice.  
“What’re your powers?” Richie asked after his sides stopped hurting.  
“I control electricity and Stan here controls shadows,” Bill said, smiling wide.  
“Can we please get on with the testing?” Eddie cut in, obviously tired of his friend’s shit.  
“Yes, of course,” Dr. K said and led Richie to a door that led to the testing chamber from earlier.  
After Richie was settled in the chamber, Dr. K shut the door. A few moments later, he could see everyone in the window pane. Dr. K’s voice came over a P.A system.  
“Don’t be alarmed, but I’m about to start the knives.”  
“The WHAT!?” Richie screamed. He didn’t have much time to panic before the divots in the wall opened up and knives shot out. Richie screamed and ducked as the onslaught of knives shot towards him at alarming speeds. This continued for a few moments before Dr. K’s voice crackled to life.  
“Think about protecting yourself!”  
Richie immediately flung his hands in front of his face as if it was a buried instinct. A deep pool of red hot fire ignited within him, but it didn’t burn. It was a comforting warmth that told him hat he was in control. Richie gave the warmth a command.  
(stop)  
Richie’s hands ignited with a deep blue glow that sparked and curled around his fingers. He stared in awe at all the knives stuck in place in the air, all illuminated by the sickly sweet blue glow. Richie threw his hands to the sides and all the knives shot into the walls. Richie’s hands and the knives stopped glowing.  
“HOLY SHIT!!” Richie all but screamed.  
Dr. K and the rest looked dumbfounded, staring at Richie with an awed expression. Eddie looked at him like he had created a beautiful star, but Richie didn’t take much notice as he was jumping around with glee.  
“Throw more knives!” Richie yelled at the window. In a few seconds, more knives came flying out of the divots. Richie called the warmth back to him and his hands lit up with blue fire. He commanded the knives to move and he twirled them around in the air, shaping patterns and creating pictures with the deadly instruments. Richie turned and made eye contact with Eddie for a second. So much raw emotion was stuck behind the boy’s eyes for a split second before dissolving into being impressed.  
Richie closed his fist and channeled the warmth and stretched it to the knives. Blue blasts of light shot from his palms and hit the knives one by one, causing a small explosion of deep blue for each hit. When each knife was obliterated, Richie turned towards his new friends.  
“I see what you mean about dangerous!” He shouted with so much joy he felt his skin would spit.  
(i wonder if mom would be proud of me right now)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m sorry that this is late i got caught up with school and homework and ugh. anyway, thanks for reading! i hope you enjoyed and please share this with friends!


	3. Backstories & Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bold of you to assume i forgot about this story

Strangely, Richie felt like his mom would be proud. As he tried to put his overactive mind to rest in his new cabin later that night, (Stan drew the short straw on giving him a house tour) he heard the distinctive sound of ground moving. Eddie and Richie were neighbors, despite Eddie’s protest. Eddie was convinced that Richie would keep him up at night blasting 80’s music and screaming memes at the top of his lungs.  
(he was probably right)  
Richie looked outside his window to see Eddie flying to the roof of Eddie’s cabin on a slab of rock.   
(fuck it)  
Richie climbed from his window onto the roof of his cabin to see Eddie sitting with his knees tucked into his chest on the neighboring roof. Richie situated himself on the edge of his own precipice and made his grand entrance.  
“You know, you were probably right.”   
Eddie startled and almost fell off the roof, muttering curse words under his breath.  
“I tend to scream memes at 3:00 a.m. Not a moment before and not a moment after,” Richie continued.  
“What do you want?” Eddie grumbled.  
“I don’t know. You seemed lonely.”  
“I’ve only been up here for thirty seconds.”  
“I know.”   
Eddie shifted so he was facing Richie.  
“Are you sure you’re not the one who’s lonely?” He asked.  
(yes)  
“Ouch! I’m wounded by your harsh words, Mr. Kaspbrak! However will I continue in this charade we call life?”   
“Is everything a joke to you?”  
“Only if it’s funny.”  
“Well what isn’t funny to you?”  
Richie shrugged. Eddie pulled his knees to his chest and rested his head on them.   
“I come up here to think. Please don’t ruin that with your never ending ‘sense of humor’” Eddie said, showing quotation mark hand symbols when he said “sense of humor”.  
“Why thank you Eds! I always appreciate your compliments!”   
Eddie snorted. “Don’t call me Eds”  
Before Richie could answer, he saw a shadow materialize and smack him in the arm.  
“The fuck?” Richie asked no one in particular.   
Eddie sighed. “What do you want, Stan?”  
“For you two to shut the fuck up. I’m trying to fucking sleep!” Richie could now see Stan talking to them from the ground below. Even from far away, Richie could sense the burning gaze of annoyance in Stan’s eyes.  
“Ok, princess, we’ll shut up.” Richie said.  
“Fucking finally,” Stan grumbled as he walked back to his cabin. A small lighting bolt flashed, making Richie almost jump off the roof.   
“Sorry, he gets cranky when he doesn’t get his beauty sleep.” Bill’s voice said as the hairs on the back of Richie’s neck began to flatten again.   
“What have I told you about scaring the shit out of people?” Eddie said nonchalantly from the other roof.  
“To not do it?”  
“Yes.” Eddie sounded tired, like he’s said this thousands of times.   
“But seriously, you guys should sleep too. It’s almost midnight.” Bill said.  
“You’re not my dad!” Richie squealed, imitating the boy from the Vine.  
“Ugly ass, fucking noodle head!” Bill finished with a laugh. Eddie groaned.

-  
The terrifying man from before reached out to grab Richie, inching closer and closer and closer until-  
-

The next morning, Richie awoke in a cold sweat. The clock on his beside table read 8:24 a.m.   
(fucking hell)  
Richie rubbed his face and gathered his senses. He knew that the man from his nightmares was bad, and he had a sneaking suspicion he had powers too. So far he had had two nightmares and a vision in the past two days, and Eddie had told him it would only get worse.   
(fan-fucking-tastic)  
Richie dragged himself out of bed and pulled on a new shirt and jeans that were in the closet along with his signature coke-bottle glasses. He tried not to think about the fact they were somehow his size. After Richie had brushed his teeth, a knock came to the door. Opening the door showed Ben with his classic, infectious smile.   
“Good morning Richie! Dr. K would like to see you.”  
-  
Richie shut the door to Dr. K’s office behind him as he walked in. “Good morning Mr. Bill Nye!”  
“Good Morning Mr. Band T-shirt.” Dr. K chuckled as he motioned for Richie to sit in a chair across from him. “I know you have been receiving nightmares from a man whom you do not know.”  
Richie nodded.  
“This man is called Pennywise. We do not know of his backstory, but we do know of his plan. He intends to drain your, and the other’s powers and inject them into himself, making him an unstoppable being capable of wiping out cities. He is already very powerful, but if he got his hand on you his power would escalate on a scale hitherto undreamt of.”  
Richie blinked. “Did you just say, ‘hitherto undreamt of?’”  
“You get the point I’m trying to make though,” Dr K smiled. “If he should try to take you, you need to be prepared. Tomorrow you will start training not only your fighting skills, but also exploring the extent of your powers and learning to control them.”  
“Awesome.”  
-  
After a productive day of testing Bill’s meme knowledge, (Richie didn’t know Stan and Eddie could roll their eyes as many times as they did) the gang all sat in the living room of the big brown house. The house had a cozy 60’s feel to it, with its quaint furniture and elaborate wallpaper.   
“So Richie, what’s your backstory? What’s your driving force in life?” Ben asked.   
“Well, my mom died when I was six, and I ran away five minutes later. I wasn’t about to go through that foster care shit. Anyway, I met Beverly when I was twelve and met Mike two years ago. They’re like the family I never really had I guess,” Richie said, secretly fighting the urge to cry.  
(repressed emotions are the best emotions)  
Richie saw Ben flinch out of the corner of his eye. Bill patted Richie on the shoulder.  
“That must have been really hard for you. My parents freaked out when they figured out their electricity was short circuiting because of me and gave me to Stan’s family. I lived there for a couple of years and me and Stan became really close until he figured out the shadows in his room came from him.” Stan’s nose twitched. “Then, we got sent here. Stan’s mom went to high school with Dr. K.”  
Richie nodded. “Small world, huh?”  
Ben glanced at Eddie.  
(was he always reading people’s minds?)  
Ben shrugged as if to say he couldn’t not read them. “My parents freaked out too when I would always repeat what they would think. Can’t have too many secrets when your son can hear them all. They still loved me though. Eddie and his dad came to pick me up when i was 10. Stan and Bill joined the squad three years later.”   
Richie turned to Eddie.  
(you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.)  
Eddie looked up and Bill quirked an eyebrow.  
“Did I say that out loud?” Richie asked. Stan snorted and nodded. “Fuck.”  
“It’s ok,” Eddie said in a surprisingly soft tone. “My mom... left when she figured out my powers.”  
(i don’t think that’s what happened.)   
Ben caught Richie’s eyes, his irises saying “don’t push it”.   
Richie nodded. “My mom didn’t know I had powers. I didn’t either until yesterday. But she would always sing me a song of magic and blue fiery wisps before I went to sleep, so maybe she did know.” Richie said with a shrug.   
(then why didn’t she warn me?)  
-  
The next day, the boys and Dr. K stood in what Bill called the training field.   
“Who’s gonna fight me?” Richie asked Dr. K.   
“I’ll gladly volunteer,” Stan said jokingly.  
“Hardy har har,” Richie groaned.  
Dr. K smiled. “Well, since he so graciously volunteered, Stan will be your first fight.” Stan looked like he was just slapped, and Ben busted out laughing. Stan and Richie stood facing each other.  
“Hey Bill, can you make a cloud so I can have some shade?” Stan asked.  
“Consider the shade thrown.” Bill said as clouds began to form, a quiet clap of thunder sounding in the distance.   
Without warning, Stan jumped at Richie, shadows materializing around him. Calling the warmth to him, Richie blasted a few shadows with blue light and ducked Stan’s attack, rolling to the side. Stan rebounded quickly, running with alarming agility and landing a solid punch to Richie’s gut. Richie used the momentum from the punch’s impact to barrel into a shadow, dissipating it with a blue blast and shoot himself into the air. He landed with a roundhouse kick to Stan’s back, sending him flying a few feet. Stan turned around and smiled, shadowy hands grabbing Richie’s ankles.  
“Not bad for a beginner.”  
“You think I didn’t have to fight on the streets?”  
The shadows yanked Richie onto his back, knocking the wind out of him, and Stan took the opportunity to run to Richie and straddle him, preparing a punch to the face.  
“You’re still a beginner though.”  
“I guess I’ll have to learn.”   
Richie pushed Stan back with his hands, lighting his chest with blue light that knocked him off of Richie. Richie rolled towards Stan and straddled him, repeating the same position but with Richie poised to punch. Richie winked and Stan rolled his eyes. A shadow yanked Richie’s t-shirt and sent him flying off of Stan, who easily got up. The shadow then pushed Richie into Stan’s waiting fist that connected with his jaw. Dr. K began to clap as Stan helped Richie up from where he fell on his ass. Rubbing his jaw with one hand, Richie shook Stan’s hand with his free one. Bill cheered Stan’s name while Eddie and Ben clapped furiously. Dr. K made his way towards Richie and Stan.   
“Good job, boys! Well done! We will continue training until Richie has beaten all of us, including me. Then, I believe, he will be ready.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SO SO SO SO SORRY THIS IS SUPER LATE!!! i really don’t have an excuse, but life really got in the way and it was just a lot of beat downs after beat downs and i never got around to writing until now. i promise this won’t happen again! i’m not saying i’ll update every single week but i definitely won’t update literal months from now haha. anyway, i’m not really confident in writing fight scenes so feedback would be greatly appreciated! thank you guys so much for sticking around and reading! love y’all!

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! i’ll have the next chapter up soon i promise. please share this with people i worked pretty hard on it... but you don’t have to.


End file.
